Crazy Rich Asians

Plot

NYU economics professor Rachel Chu and her boyfriend Nick Young fly to Singapore for his best friend Colin Khoo and Araminta Lee's wedding. Flying first class, Nick confesses his family is wealthy but insists they will love her. After they arrive, Rachel visits her wealthy college roommate Goh Peik Lin, who reveals that Nick's family is extremely wealthy, have a real estate empire and are essentially Singaporean royalty. Peik Lin helps her pick out an appropriate dress for the event and drives her to the dinner party at the sprawling Young estate. Rachel's first meeting with Nick's mother Eleanor is awkward, as she disapproves of her Americanness, putting her personal passions before family. Nick's only cousin who treats Rachel kindly is his closest, Astrid Teo, whom is married to Michael, a former soldier from a modest background who is starting a tech company. Discovering that Michael is cheating, Astrid is devastated. Rachel fortunately endears herself to Nick's grandmother, matriarch Shang Su Yi.

At both of their respective over-the top bachelorette and bachelor parties, both Rachel and Nick are warned that the Youngs would never consider Rachel good enough for Nick. She leaves her party, only to find a dead fish in their hotel bed, and a message calling her a gold digger. Astrid helps her clean up and comforts her. Nick and Colin swap the noisy, wild party for a quiet beach, where Nick reveals his planned marriage proposal. Although happy for him, Colin reiterates that Nick's union with Rachel would expose her to attacks from Nick's family and community. As Nick and Rachel make dumplings with the Youngs, Rachel admires Eleanor's ring. She reveals she quit law school to marry and start a family. When alone with Rachel, Eleanor reveals that her husband & Nick's father Philip had her engagement ring made when Su Yi refused to give him the family ring for him to propose to Eleanor. She insists Rachel will never be good enough for him or his family.

Rachel is devastated; Peik Lin convinces her to stand up to Eleanor to earn her respect, so Rachel gets a glamorous makeover for the wedding. Meanwhile, en route to the wedding, Astrid confronts Michael, who blames his infidelity on their financial disparity. At the wedding, Rachel confronts and dismisses Amanda, Nick's ex-girlfriend, and impresses others with her stylish gown and her ability to charm an unfriendly aristocrat with her economics knowledge. During the ceremony, Rachel and Nick wordlessly reaffirm their love. At the reception, Eleanor and Su Yi privately confront Rachel and Nick with a private investigator's findings. Rachel's father is not dead, as she believed, but she is the result of an affair. They accuse Rachel of lying to pursue Nick for his wealth and status. He insists they are wrong about her, but Rachel declares she is done with the Youngs. The depressed Rachel returns to Peik Lin's, refusing to talk to Nick or anyone, until her mother Kerry arrives, having been flown in by Nick. She explains that her abusive husband drove her to an old friend for comfort. They fell in love, she became pregnant and fled to the US, fearing her husband would kill them. Nick apologizes to Rachel and proposes, willing to abandon his family to be with her, but Rachel declines. Meanwhile, Astrid moves out with her son Cassian, blaming Michael's insecurities for their marriage's failure.

Cast

Constance Wu as Rachel Chu, Nick's girlfriend and Kerry's daughter

Henry Golding as Nicholas "Nick" Young, Rachel's boyfriend and Phillip and Eleanor's son

Gemma Chan as Astrid Leong-Teo, Nick's cousin and Michael's wife, a fashion icon and socialite

Lisa Lu as Shang Su Yi, Nick's grandmother and the matriarch of the family

Awkwafina as Goh Peik Lin, Rachel's charismatic confidante and best friend, and Wye Mun's daughter

Ken Jeong as Goh Wye Mun, Peik Lin's wealthy father

Michelle Yeoh as Eleanor Sung-Young, Nick's domineering mother and Phillip's wife

Sonoya Mizuno as Araminta Lee, Colin's fiancée and heiress to a billion-dollar resort chain

Chris Pang as Colin Khoo, Nick's childhood best friend and Araminta's fiancé

Jimmy O. Yang as Bernard Tai, Nick and Colin's former classmate

Ronny Chieng as Edison "Eddie" Cheng, Nick and Astrid's cousin and Fiona's husband from Hong Kong

Remy Hii as Alistair Cheng, Eddie's brother and Nick and Astrid's movie-making cousin from Taiwan

Nico Santos as Oliver T'sien, Nick's gay and campy second cousin. He refers to himself as "the rainbow sheep of the family" and becomes good friends with Peik Lin.

Production

Pre-production

Kevin Kwan published his comedic novel Crazy Rich Asians on June 11, 2013. One of the first producers to contact Kwan was Wendi Deng Murdoch, who had read an advance copy of the novel provided by Graydon Carter. Another of the producers who was initially interested in the project proposed whitewashing the role of heroine Rachel Chu by casting a Caucasian actress, prompting Kwan to option the rights to the film for just $1 in exchange for a continuing role for creative and development decisions. In August 2013, producer Nina Jacobson acquired rights to adapt the novel into a film. Jacobson and her partner Brad Simpson intended to produce under their production banner Color Force, with Bryan Unkeless developing the project. Their initial plan was to produce the film adaptation outside the studio system and to structure financing for development and production from Asia and other territories outside the United States. The freedom created by eschewing the typical funding structure would enable an all-Asian cast. Jacobson stated "Getting something in development and even getting some upfront money is an easy way to not ever see your movie get made."

In 2014, the US-based Asian film investment group Ivanhoe Pictures partnered with Jacobson to finance and produce Crazy Rich Asians. John Penotti, president of Ivanhoe, stated "For us, the book fell in our lap kind of like, 'This is why we're doing the company.' Unlike the Hollywood second-guessing, 'Oh my God, will this work? We don't know. It's all Asian,' it was exactly the opposite for us: 'That's exactly why it will work.'"

Screenwriter Peter Chiarelli was hired to write the screenplay before a director was brought on board. Director Jon M. Chu entered negotiations with Color Force and Ivanhoe Pictures in May 2016 to direct the film adaptation. He was hired after giving executives a visual presentation about his experience as a first-generation Asian-American. Chu was actually mentioned obliquely in the source novel as Kwan was friends with Chu's cousin Vivian. Upon joining the project, Chu insisted on bringing in a screenwriter of Asian descent, Adele Lim, to review and revise Chiarelli's script. Chiarelli was credited with focusing the plot on the dynamic between Eleanor, Rachel, and Nick. Lim also added specific cultural details and developed Eleanor's character.

In October 2016, Warner Bros. Pictures acquired the distribution rights to the project after what Variety called a "heated" bidding war. Netflix reportedly fervently sought worldwide rights to the project, offering "artistic freedom, a greenlighted trilogy and huge, seven-figure-minimum paydays for each stakeholder, upfront". However, Kwan and Chu selected Warner Bros. for the cultural impact of a wide theatrical release.

Casting

After Wu was chosen to play the lead Rachel Chu, newcomer Henry Golding was cast to play the male lead Nick Young. Michelle Yeoh joined the cast as Eleanor Young, Nick's mother, in March 2017. Rounding out the supporting cast was Gemma Chan as Nick's cousin Astrid Young and Sonoya Mizuno as Araminta Lee. Wu, Yeoh, and Chan were part of director Chu's "dream casting sheet" before casting was confirmed, along with Ronny Chieng and Jimmy O. Yang. On April 18, 2017, Filipino actress Kris Aquino was cast in a cameo role. On May 12, it was announced that Ken Jeong had joined the cast. Although Jeong had a minor role involving less than a week of filming, he stated "It's just something I wanted to be part of. It's about wanting to be part of something monumental. Something that's bigger than me. I'm so giddy I'm part of this, I can't even tell you."

The casting of Nick Young, Golding's eventual role, initially had been challenging for the filmmakers, as director Jon M. Chu reportedly was unsatisfied with the preliminary finalists from Los Angeles and China, as he felt that none of the actors could properly replicate the British accent Nick was described as having from the original book. After receiving a tip from his accountant Lisa-Kim Kuan, Chu began actively pursuing Golding for the role of Nick, who he felt had the proper accent and look for the character.

Biscuit Films, a production company based in Petaling Jaya that provided support for the film, commissioned casting director Jerrica Lai to provide local talent which included Carmen Soo (as Francesca Shaw, a socialite) and Calvin Wong (Peik Lin's awkward brother).

The film's casting prior to release was met with both praise—in the U.S. for its all-Asian cast—and criticism for its lack of Asian ethnic diversity, based on issues ranging from non-Chinese actors (Golding and Mizuno) playing Chinese roles; the film's ethnic Chinese and East Asian predominance as being poorly representative of Singapore; and as being a perpetuation of existing Chinese dominance in its media and pop culture.

Filming

Principal photography began on April 24, 2017, and completed on June 23. The film was shot in various locations around Malaysia as well as in Singapore. The film was shot by Vanja Černjul using Panasonic VariCam PURE cameras equipped with anamorphic lenses. Production design is credited to Nelson Coates.

Producer Tim Coddington contacted Biscuit Films for potential locations in Southeast Asia similar to photographs he had of mansions in Thailand. With Malaysia being a cheap filming location, Biscuit convinced him of the country, which is also culturally more similar to Singapore, where the source novel is set. The ancestral Young family home, set at Tyersall Park in Singapore, was filmed at two abandoned mansions that make up Carcosa Seri Negara within the Perdana Botanical Gardens. Interior scenes were filmed at one building, and the exterior scenes were filmed at another; they had originally been built as residences for the British High Commissioner to Malaya in the early 20th century, and were recently used as a boutique hotel until it closed in 2015. The Carcosa Seri Negara buildings, owned by the Malaysian government, were then abandoned and dilapidated; as found in 2017, they were in disrepair and "filled with monkey feces". The set designers were inspired to decorate the interior set in the Peranakan style. Kevin Kwan, who was born in Singapore and lived with his paternal grandparents before moving to the United States, contributed vintage family photographs for the set. The set designers removed carpets, painted the floors to look like tiles, and commissioned local artists to create murals. The stuffed tiger in the foyer was a simulacrum created from foam and fur in Thailand; customs inspectors delayed the shipment because they thought it was an actual taxidermied animal.

The opening urban scenes set in London and the West Village were actually shot in Kuala Lumpur and Penang: the Calthorpe Hotel purchased by the Youngs is the E&O Hotel in Penang; the lecture auditorium set at NYU was filmed in Putrajaya; and the restaurant where Nick asks Rachel to travel was filmed at BLVD House, Naza Towers at Platinum Park in Kuala Lumpur. The taxi drop-off scene set at John F. Kennedy International Airport also was filmed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Singapore Airlines was asked to participate in exchange for product placement, but declined as "they were not sure the movie would represent the airline and their customer[s] in a good light", according to producer Brad Simpson, leading to the creation of the fictional Pacific Asean Airlines for the film. After Nick asks Rachel to travel with him to Araminta and Colin's wedding, rumors about his mystery girlfriend soon reach Eleanor at a Bible study session, filmed in the private residence Be-landa House in Kuala Lumpur. The luxurious first-class suite on the Pacific Asean flight was a set built at the MINES International Exhibition & Convention Centre (MIECC) in Serdang. The scenes where Rachel and Nick arrive at Changi Airport and are then whisked away to Newton Food Centre by Colin and Araminta were shot on location. After settling in, Rachel and Nick stay at a luxury hotel (scenes were shot at the Raffles Hotel) instead of the ancestral Young estate at Tyersall. Astrid's character is introduced by showing her shopping for jewelry at an exclusive designer; the shop was created by redecorating the Astor Bar at the St. Regis Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The Goh family's home is an actual residence off Cluny Park in Singapore, although the set decorators were responsible for the excessive gilding and pillars.

Costumes

Costume design was handled by Mary Vogt, with Andrea Wong serving as a consultant and senior costume buyer. They used dresses and suits from fashion designers such as Ralph Lauren, Elie Saab, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, and Christian Dior; many of the brands were eager to have their clothes shown off in the film. Looks were influenced by other movies cited by director Jon Chu, including The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, and In the Mood for Love. 30 makeup artists were on set to help the actors, who were filming scenes in conditions of high heat and humidity while wearing formal clothing.

Before traveling to Southeast Asia, Vogt received help from Kwan, who shared vintage family photographs to explain how the old money society in Singapore "was very classy, very elegant", contrasting with the new money Goh family, who are "just flinging it around, wanting to show it [off]". Andrea Wong pointed Vogt to designers around Kuala Lumpur, who contributed not only clothes but also insight into local high-society fashions. Kwan, who had worked as a design consultant before writing the novel, relied on people he knew working in the fashion industry to bring in clothes for the film.

In an early scene, Astrid gives a watch to her husband Michael; it is a "Paul Newman" Rolex Daytona loaned following a request from Kwan for the filming. Yeoh used her friendships with wealthy Singaporean and Hong Kong tai tais to help shape final wardrobe choices, and loaned pieces from her personal jewelry collection, including the distinctive emerald engagement ring. Kwan and director Chu insisted that all the pieces worn by the Young family must be real; the orchid brooch worn by Su Yi (Ah Ma) at the wedding and a belt buckle for Eleanor (also originally a brooch, but used to make the dress fit Yeoh) were designed by Michelle Ong and loaned from Carnet. Some of the other jewelry pieces, including Astrid's pearl earrings, were loaned from Mouawad, and guards were employed to protect the jewelry, which sometimes dictated the filming. The extras who attended the wedding reception were drawn from the Peranakan Association, a historical society, and were asked to wear their own vintage formal clothing to add local flavor to the party.

Music

During the production process, Chu and music supervisor Gabe Hilfer assembled a list of hundreds of songs about money, including songs by Kanye West ("Gold Digger"), Hall & Oates ("Rich Girl"), the Notorious B.I.G. ("Mo Money Mo Problems"), Lady Gaga ("Money Honey"), and Barrett Strong ("Money (That's What I Want)"). Seeking to create a multilingual soundtrack, Chu and Hilfer compiled Chinese songs from the 1950s and 1960s by Ge Lan (Grace Chang) and Yao Lee, as well as contemporary songs, then searched through YouTube videos for singers fluent in Mandarin Chinese to provide cover versions of songs. The film's soundtrack album and score album, by Brian Tyler, were both released on August 10, 2018, through WaterTower Music.

Release

Theatrical

Crazy Rich Asians was released in the United States on August 15, 2018, after previously having been scheduled for August 17. An early screening was held in April 2018 at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, garnering strong emotional reactions from the audience; other advance screenings were held in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and New York City. The film premiered on August 7, 2018, at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. The social media hashtag #GoldOpen was used to bring attention to the film. The studio spent an estimated $72.18 million on prints and advertisements for the film.

Internationally, Crazy Rich Asians was released in Singapore on August 22, 2018, and was scheduled for a later release in parts of Europe, although the planned November 2018 U.K. release date was moved forward to September 14, 2018. Later that month, on September 28, 2018, Crazy Rich Asians released to 75 theaters in Japan. In October 2018, it was announced the film would be released in China on November 30, 2018. Crazy Rich Asians was originally planned to premiere in every Nordic country in September. However, it was delayed and eventually cancelled in Sweden and Denmark without any particular reason. The Swedish distributor Fox told Kulturnyheterna they do not know why the film did not have a Swedish or Danish premiere, and that the decision was made by Warner Bros. Los Angeles office. Kulturnyheterna has on several occasions tried to get Warner Bros. Los Angeles to comment, but to no avail.

The film was well received by Singaporean audiences, though some felt it overrepresented and dramatized the wealthy families living there. Writers and producers in the British film and television industry expressed a hope that Crazy Rich Asians' positive financial reception would lead to more East Asian representation following the film's release in the United Kingdom as the film contained multiple British actors of East Asian descent acting in the picture.

In China, Crazy Rich Asians was met a tepid reception among viewers despite initial high expectations from Warner Bros. Pictures. Multiple possible reasons were cited for its failure to resonate with Chinese moviegoers. The film's discussion of excessive wealth felt off-putting to audiences due to the start of an economic slowdown, and the film has been compared to the Chinese film Tiny Times by some media in China, and the themes of ethnic and cultural identity were unrelatable and possibly bothersome to viewers. As Ying Zhu puts it, "“The caricature of the nouveau riche as rude and tasteless might actually be an insult to the Chinese who have yet to have the time to accumulate wealth the old-fashioned way—by inheriting it. It would take generations for the crude and boorish new money to evolve into pompous and arrogant old money, however “dignified” such might be. Indeed “the newly minted rich” has become a euphemism in the West in recent years for people from mainland China who line up at luxury boutiques and spend large." Unlike in the film's country of origin, the United States, an all-Asian cast was not considered novel in China, and the film lacked Chinese stars, other than Michelle Yeoh and Lisa Lu. The delayed release of about three-and-a-half months was also said to have hurt ticket sales, as much of the film's potential audience had pirated it or viewed it overseas. Even with its lackluster reception, a Chinese theatrical release was deemed important by producers, as China Rich Girlfriend, the second film in the series, was planned to be partially filmed in Shanghai, potentially as a Chinese co-production.

Home video

Crazy Rich Asians was released on digital on November 6, 2018, and on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 20, 2018. The Blu-ray Combo Pack special features include commentary by director Jon M. Chu and novelist Kwan, a gag reel, and deleted scenes. As of January 27, 2019, roughly twelve weeks after the film's home video release, Crazy Rich Asians grossed an estimated $16 million domestically from 782,390 collective DVD and Blu-ray sales.

Reception

Box office

Crazy Rich Asians grossed $174.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $64 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $239 million, against a production budget of $30 million. In October 2018, it became the highest-grossing romantic comedy of the last 10 years, and the 6th-highest-grossing ever. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $120.8 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues.

Three weeks before its North American release, Crazy Rich Asians was projected to gross $18–20 million during its five-day opening weekend. By the week of its release, estimates had reached $26–30 million, with Fandango reporting pre-sale tickets were outpacing Girls Trip (which debuted to $31.2 million in July 2017). The film held special advance screenings on August 8, 2018, and made an estimated $450,000–500,000, selling out most of its 354 theaters. It then took in $5 million on its first day and $3.8 million on its second. It went on to gross $26.5 million in its opening weekend, for a five-day total of $35.2 million, finishing first at the box office. 38% of its audience was of Asian descent, which was the highest Asian makeup for a film in U.S. in the previous three years (besting The Foreigner's 18.4% in 2017). In its second weekend the film made $24.8 million, a box office drop of just 6%, which Deadline Hollywood called "unbelievable." The film continued to play well in its third weekend, making $22 million (a drop of just 11% from the previous week) and remaining in first. The film was finally dethroned in its fourth weekend, finishing third behind newcomers The Nun and Peppermint with $13.1 million.

In Singapore, where the film takes place, Crazy Rich Asians grossed over $5 million. The first-week ticket sales for the film, $2.5 million, were considered unusually high. Large numbers of organizations and individuals buying out theaters to host screenings, as well as general interest in seeing how Hollywood portrayed the city-state, were noted as major contributors to the film's high Singaporean box office totals.

On a panel about the future of film for The New York Times on June 23, 2019, director Chu said: After what I experienced with 'Crazy Rich Asians,' seeing the audience show up, it sort of reinvigorated the idea of going to the movies. That social aspect of sharing a movie with friends and strangers and family, that's such a strong part of our tradition. The success we had would not have been possible any other way.

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 91%, based on 374 reviews, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "With a terrific cast and a surfeit of visual razzle dazzle, Crazy Rich Asians takes a satisfying step forward for screen representation while deftly drawing inspiration from the classic – and still effective – rom-com formula." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 85% positive score and a 65% "definite recommend". On the Chinese social networking website Douban, the film scored 6.2 out of 10, which Variety called a "middling" rating.

Joe Morgenstern, writing for The Wall Street Journal, found the film to be "bright, buoyant, and hilarious," making special note of the large number of quality performances from the cast members, writing: "And anyone with a sense of movie history will be moved by the marvelous Ms. Yeoh, who was so memorable as the love-starved fighter in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and by 91-year-old Lisa Lu, who plays Nick's grandmother and the matriarch of his family. Anyone, in this case, means anyone. Crazy Rich Asians includes us all." Ann Hornaday, writing for The Washington Post, deemed the film an "escapist rom-com delight" and remarked that "it will more than satisfy the sweet tooth of romantic comedy fans everywhere who have lately despaired that the frothy, frolicsome genre they adore has been subsumed by raunch and various shades of gray"; she also compared the film's rom-com themes to Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).

Time magazine published an extended cultural review of the film by Karen Ho, which compared the high fashion appeal of the film to rival the best of previous films such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Ho summarizes the film's success as an uphill battle against the season's predominantly superhero oriented audiences, writing: "To many in Hollywood, Crazy Rich Asians might look like a risky bet. It's the first modern story with an all-Asian cast and an Asian-American lead in 25 years; the last Joy Luck Club, was in 1993. It's an earnest romantic comedy in a sea of action and superhero films... In fact, it seems destined to be a hit." In the same magazine, Stephanie Zacharek called the film as "simply great fun, a winsome romantic comedy and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags," while at the same time hailing the film as a breakthrough in representation and lauded the performances and chemistry of Wu and Golding as well as the supporting performances (particularly Yeoh, Ken Jeong, Nico Santos, and Awkwafina).

Legacy

Actor Ke Huy Quan, who had quit acting after Second Time Around (2002) due to the lack of opportunities for Asian actors, said he was inspired to return to the profession by the positive representation of Asians in Crazy Rich Asians. Quan said: "I saw my fellow Asian actors up on the screen, and I had serious FOMO because I wanted to be up there with them". Among Quan’s first films back would be Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), which stars Crazy Rich Asians actress Michelle Yeoh as the lead. Both Yeoh and Quan would go on to win Academy Awards for their performances. As a tribute to the film, clips of Yeoh on the red carpet promoting Crazy Rich Asians can be briefly seen in the universe where Yeoh's character Evelyn is an accomplished actress.

Crazy Rich Asians is frequently cited as a milestone for Hollywood films within Asian representation. It was the first major film released in the United States since The Joy Luck Club (1993) to feature an Asian cast. Its success led to a $30 million budget and a profit $230 million for mainstream audience support. The film is often said to have paved the way for movies and TV shows to center on Asian culture, story, and timelines by major studios.

Casting criticism

Although the film has been lauded in the United States for featuring a predominantly Asian cast, it was criticized elsewhere, particularly in Singapore, for casting biracial and non-Chinese actors as ethnically Chinese characters. The film was also criticized by Singaporeans for its inaccuracies by having supposed Singaporean characters speak only British English and American English and omitting Singaporean English entirely. In addition, the film has received criticism for poorly representing the actual ethnic makeup of Singapore by not portraying non-ethnically Chinese citizens such as Malays and Indians.

Lead actors

The casting of lead actor Henry Golding, who is of Iban and English descent, as the Chinese Singaporean character Nick Young was controversial; several detractors negatively compared the casting to whitewashing and criticized it for perpetuating the idea that Asian actors cannot be Hollywood leading men without Eurocentric features, while supporters highlighted Golding's own Malaysian background and upbringing, noting that the criticisms reflected struggles that multiracial Asians face within the Asian community.

Korean American actress Jamie Chung, who had auditioned for a role but was turned down allegedly for not being "ethnically Chinese", responded to Golding's casting with "That is some bullshit. Where do you draw the line to be ethnically conscious?" Chung's remarks were met with both praise and criticism on social media, with some accusing her of being biased against Eurasians and noting that she had previously played ethnic Chinese characters in other works. Chung clarified her comments on social media, denying that she was bigoted against multiracial Asians as she would "one day have [her] own hapa babies", prompting further backlash. Chung subsequently apologized to Golding for her comments, which he accepted. She later expressed her support for Crazy Rich Asians, Golding and his castmates, stating that because of them "there will be other projects [...] that will be full Asian casts."

Golding initially called the criticism towards his casting "quite hurtful", but was later more open towards criticism as he felt that there "should be a conversation about it". Awkwafina jokingly stated it would have been bad only if the producers had cast Emma Stone as Nick, referring to the 2015 film Aloha.

The casting of Sonoya Mizuno, who is of Japanese, English and Argentine descent, as the Chinese Singaporean character Araminta Lee, attracted similar criticisms as Golding's, which Mizuno said "pissed [her] off". Mizuno called out the double standard of white actors being allowed to play different European ethnicities and nationalities without receiving criticism, noting the scarcity of multiracial roles for multiracial actors.

Sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen defended Golding's casting, surmising that the criticism towards him was fueled out of racial purity from full-blooded Asians. By deeming Golding "not Asian enough", detractors were choosing to ignore his Asian heritage. Yuen contrasted Golding's situation to the public perception of former U.S. President Barack Obama, who is also biracial. She noted how "the world sees President Obama as black, but his mother is white" and perceived double standard in "[erasing] Golding's Asian ancestry while obliterating Obama's white ancestry."

Ethnic representation of Singapore

In contrast to those calling for Chinese actors to fill its roles, others, particularly those in Asian countries, expressed disappointment in the film's lack of ethnic Malays and Indians, who have a prominent presence in Singapore. Kirsten Han, a Singaporean journalist, said that the film "obscur[ed] the Malay, Indian, and Eurasian (and more) populations who make the country the culturally rich and unique place that it is". Some were critical towards the omission of the country's Malays and Indians—the second and third largest ethnic groups in Singapore, respectively—thus not representing its multiracial population wholly.

Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, commented that the film "represents the worst of Singapore. Erases minorities. Erases the poor and marginalized. All you get are rich, privileged ethnic Chinese." Alfian Sa'at, a Malay Singaporean poet and playwright, commented on the film's title, referring to it as "Crazy Rich EAST Asians", and adding "Does a win for representation mean replacing white people with white people wannabes[?]" Multiple critics also criticized the comedic scene in which the characters Rachel Chu and Peik Lin were frightened by Sikh guards, noting that "the presentation of brown men as scary predators is played for laughs", is "blind to racial politics in Singapore", and presented a "buffoonish performance [that is] as excruciating as Mickey Rooney's as the Japanese photographer living above Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's." However, one commenter noted that the book which the film is based on "is aware of its lack of minority representation [and] actually alludes to the closed minded attitude of some social circles in Singapore. One of the family members got disowned for marrying a Malay."

Other critics defended the film's portrayal of ethnic representation. Ilyas Sholihyn, a Malay Singaporean writing for Coconuts, stated that "it's hard to imagine the story is even relatable to most Chinese Singaporeans" due to the film's focus on the extremely wealthy, noting that Crazy Rich Asians was highly Americanized and not made for native Singaporeans, but rather "a high-fantasy Hollywood film made for maximum appeal to East Asian-Americans". He also criticized certain decisions regarding representation, such as how the scene at the Newton Food Centre lacked accurate cultural diversity, and that the roles for the limited number of non-Chinese Singaporeans, such as guards and valets, was tokenism. Surekha A. Yadav of the Malay Mail defended the film's lack of non-ethnic Chinese Singaporeans, describing it as an accurate portrayal of Chinese Singaporeans, particularly wealthy ones, who, per statistics from the Institute of Policy Studies, have minimal and even discriminatory interactions with Singaporean minority ethnic groups. Regarding the film specifically, Yadav explained that "it is the extremely privileged edge of this upper segment of Singapore society that Crazy Rich Asians depicts. In reality, this is a world where minorities play a very small role."

Future

As of November 2025, discussions and announcements regarding one or more sequels has been ongoing for over seven years. Prior to the film's release, Jon M. Chu said he would be eager to direct a sequel if the first film was a success, stating, "We have other stories outside of the Crazy Rich Asians world that are ready to be told too, from filmmakers and storytellers who haven't had their stories told yet." On August 22, 2018, following the film's strong opening, Warner Bros. Pictures confirmed a sequel was in development, with Chiarelli and Lim returning to write the script, based on the book's sequel, China Rich Girlfriend. Chu and actors Wu, Golding, and Yeoh all have options for a sequel, although several of the key actors were committed to other projects until 2020. Producer Nina Jacobson later announced that China Rich Girlfriend and an adaptation of the final installment in Kwan's trilogy, Rich People Problems, would be filmed back-to-back in 2020 to reduce the wait time between those two films.

In September 2019, screenwriter Adele Lim, who had co-written Crazy Rich Asians with Peter Chiarelli, left production on the film's sequels following a pay dispute. Lim had reportedly been offered US$110,000 to write the sequels, while Chiarelli had been offered US$800,000-$1,000,000 for the same role. Lim stated, "that the pay difference represented a greater issue of sexism and racism in Hollywood, as the industry views women and people of color as "soy sauce"—or simply a means to add minor cultural details to screenplays, rather than to provide a substantial writing role". Director Jon M. Chu voiced support for Lim in a statement, explaining that, while he was disappointed she wouldn't return for the sequels, he would continue to work with Lim elsewhere and that "the conversation this has started is MUCH more important than ourselves... so who am I to get in the way of that." He added that he agreed with Lim's criticisms of the film industry, and requested that people refrain from criticizing Chiarelli, as "he is a good man, a creative force and has been a pro in the business for many many years". Warner Bros.' business affairs department issued a response as well, stating that Chiarelli had more experience working on films as Lim's résumé had only consisted of television credits prior to Crazy Rich Asians, and that "making an exception would set a troubling precedent in the business". They also noted that an alternative offer for Lim had been drafted, which she did not take. Lim later voiced thanks for the public support she had received, writing on Twitter: "To people going through their own fight - you are not alone. Also, I have only love for Jon M. Chu and the cast & crew of Crazy Rich Asians." On March 21, 2022, it was reported that Amy Wang was set to write the sequel, replacing Chiarelli and Lim.

Musical adaptation

On April 17, 2024, it was announced that a stage musical adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians was in development, with Jon M. Chu directing, book by Leah Nanako Winkler, music by Helen Park, and lyrics by Amanda Green and Tat Tong.